One of eight original franchises from the inaugural season, Kings XI Punjab have tweaked little with their brand identity over the last 12 years, catering to their vast catchment area in the north of India. The squad itself has been in a state of flux, season after season, but none of them have been able to bring home an IPL title.
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Ahead of IPL 2020, here’s presenting a Kings XI Punjab team preview of a star-spangled franchise that hasn’t yet been able to break their jinx of bagging the elusive Indian Premier League trophy.
It would be another fresh start for a team whose best IPL performance so far has been finishing as runner-ups in 2014. Last year, they finished sixth, the fifth consecutive season when they had failed to make it even to the top five, despite featuring some of the best exponents of T20 cricket in recent.
With a new captain and a new coach, things could change for the better, but it remains to see whether Indian Premier League’s perennial underachievers learn from their past mistakes.
IPL 2020 Kings XI Punjab team preview
The IPL 2020 squad for Kings XI Punjab has, perhaps, one of the best-looking line-ups this year. A strong mix of experienced T20 specialists, as well as a fresh batch of young stars, the team has the firepower this time to correct their unflattering record.
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They let go of Ravichandran Ashwin, and six other players, but still retained a star cast that includes KL Rahul, Chris Gayle, Nicholas Pooran and Mujeeb Ur Rahman, among others. At the IPL 2020 auction table, they did well to fill their inadequacies, roping in big names such as Glenn Maxwell, Sheldon Cottrell, Chris Jordan and James Neesham, while also going for impressive younger options in Ishan Porel and Ravi Bishnoi.
With established domestic players in Mayank Agarwal, Mohammed Shami, Karun Nair and Krishnappa Gowtham, the depth of the side could be their biggest asset in the two-month-long tournament.
Rahul has been named captain this year, and will be working with the new coach Anil Kumble, who had a successful run as head coach of the India team in 2016/17. With a fielding coach in Jonty Rhodes, Wasim Jaffer overlooking the batting, and Courtney Walsh their talent scout, they have made all the right noises ahead of IPL 2020.
With the season shifted to UAE, a lot will hinge on their spinners on pitches that are likely to grow progressively slower as the season unfolds – with Mujeeb, Bishnoi and Gowtham, to name a few, their spin cabinet looks adequately stocked.
With Rahul holding the batting at the top, especially with Gayle unlikely to feature in every game, it’ll be Glenn Maxwell in the middle overs who’ll look to provide the quick thrust around his more sedate Indian batting partners.
Kings XI Punjab squad list for IPL 2020
Arshdeep Singh, Chris Gayle, Chris Jordan, Darshan Nalkande, Deepak Hooda, Glenn Maxwell, Krishnappa Gowtham, Hardus Viljoen, Harpreet Brar, Ishan Porel, Jagadeesha Suchith, James Neesham, Karun Nair, KL Rahul, Mandeep Singh, Mayank Agarwal, Mohammed Shami, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Murugan Ashwin, Nicholas Pooran, Prabhsimran Singh, Ravi Bishnoi, Sarfaraz Khan, Sheldon Cottrell, Tajinder Dhillon
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Key players
KL Rahul: The opening batsman has been in a rich vein of form for the past two years. He aggregated 593 runs in 2019 and 659 in 2018, averaging over 50 in both editions. He can really set the tone in the first 10 overs and has the ability to play long, anchoring knocks in T20s, without letting the run-rate dip.
Additionally, he will be captaining and possibly also keeping wicket for his side – the added responsibility on 27-year-old could just bring out the best in him.
Glenn Maxwell: Maxwell returns to Punjab for another stint, having represented the franchise from 2014 until 2017. This time around, it’s a different setting for the explosive batsman. He opted out of IPL last year, took a break from cricket in October 2019, and is slowly easing his way back in.
And while he has not exactly set the stage on fire upon his return in the BBL, the flat, slow pitches in UAE, where he scored his best IPL score of 95 in 2014, could be the ideal setting for him to return to his best.
IPL 2020 Betting odds
9/1
Our prediction
Eliminator: Given the range of their line-up, and the form of some of their top-performers, Kings XI Punjab might be able to break their playoff rut, and land in the top four in UAE. It remains to be seen if they can push past the nerves of going further in the knock-out stage, having featured in the top four only twice in twelve tries.
